Conair's Skimmer AKA Fire Boss (Image Credit: CFJC Today)
WILDFIRE SEASON APPROACHES

Conair’s skimmers arrive in Kamloops ahead of wildfire season

May 13, 2022 | 4:14 PM

KAMLOOPS — The skimmers have arrived in Kamloops ahead of this year wildfire season in British Columbia. Six aircraft will call Kamloops home this summer, representing half of the provincial fleet. Two RJ tankers and a bird-dog will also be based out of airport this year ready to respond.

“A few years ago we were up in Dease Lake, Telegraph Creek, which is obviously quite a ways away from here,” said Fire Boss Pilot Mike Lewis. “Typically, we spend most of our time in the Southern Interior, not terribly far from Kamloops.”

“One of the nice things about the jets is they can fly far and fast. From Kamloops, pretty much any corner of the province we can hit, even though it’s more southern-based. But we can still go up toward Fort St. John with these airplanes,” said Greg Adams, B.C. Wildfire Service Air Attack Officer.

hile the bombers will generally fly single mission days, the skimmer crews can be airborne for up to four hours at a time attacking a wildfire repeatedly.

“Doesn’t really matter, we will even go to small (fires) that are point-one of a hectare, so really small. That’s the best time for us to go to them because then we’re the most effective. On average for initial attack our fires tend to be in the two to four hectare range for the tankers,” added Adams.

“In the fire bosses the scooping and the picking up water is definitely what is the most challenging and for our newer pilots has the steepest learning curve. Once a pilot gets a few seasons on the machine and they really get in-tune with it, it becomes second nature,” added Lewis.

After calmer wildfire season in 2019 and 2020, and then the devastation of last summer, Mike and his crew are hoping for a boring summer in Kamloops, but are prepared to jump into the cockpit and take flight whenever they’re called upon.

“Happy to be back in Kamloops, it’s a like a second home for a lot of us and we love coming back here every year,” said Lewis.

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